The New York Democrat also put a special emphasis on the involvement of the business community in any debate.
“When Republicans start hinting that they’re willing to do this, all they hear from is Grover Norquist and those opposed to it. We need the business community to play an influential role here,” Schumer said, adding that the White House should reach out to business as well.
Though Schumer focused most of his remarks on fostering a new bipartisan era of legislating, he said that the tea party “has peaked and is on the descent” and that former George W. Bush chief of staff Karl Rove has some soul-searching to do.
“Karl Rove’s reputation is going to take a significant hit, if Crossroads were a business and Rove was the CEO, he’d be fired for getting a poor return for his investors,” Schumer quipped, referring to the operative behind the American Crossroads super PAC and its allied nonprofit, Crossroads GPS.
Schumer praised the performance of the candidates he had recruited as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman who won re-election easily this week, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.).
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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